GaryMrMets
07-10-2002, 05:02 PM
http://www.bobshannon.com/stories/lazymary.html
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TRANSLATED HITS
...a special feature on the lyrics of a tune from the King of Italian-American hit records. This article did not originally appear in the book.
http://www.bobshannon.com/images/loumonte1.jpg
Lazy Mary--Lou Monte
Joe Reisman & His Orchestra
Year: 1958
Position: Top 12
Label: RCA
THE LYRICS: This song is among the most problematic to obtain the correct lyrics for. Although the words are readily available from many websites, they are not correct.
Here's how they appear on most lyrics sites:
"Lazy Mary you better get up"
She answered back, "I am not able"
"Lazy Mary you better get up
We need the sheets for the table"
"Lazy Mary you smoke in bed
There's only one man you should marry
My advice to you would be
Is to pay attention to me"
"You better marry a fireman he'll come and go,
Go and come sempr's la pompa a mano tiene
C'e na luna mezza'o mare
Mammamiam'ho maritari
Figlia mia a cu t'ho dare?
Mama mia penscitu
Se ti piglia lu pisciaolo
Tssu vai, issu viene
Sempre lu peace a muno tiene
Se c'in gappa la fantasia ti pomperia figgiuzza mia
La lario la pisci fritt'e baccala
Oeh cumpa, na pompina ci haggia catta
Cenata o cumma ca mi voglio marita
Dammi na vagliotta ca mi voglio marita HEY!
The English portion is correct, but the actual record does not begin with it. The "Italian" portion is partly correct, but very incomplete, and contains words not even on the record. There are also "typos"; for example, at the beginning of the sixth line of the "Italian" section, Tssu should be Issu. Most of the song is omitted as it jumps from the opening to an incorrect sequence of the ending.
It appears that this version has been copied from website to website, and is the accepted source on the Internet. Unfortunately, it is wrong.
The problem begins with the fact that this folk song is not sung in Standard Italian. It is beyond the scope of this website to delve into the finer points of dialectical variations between Neapolitan, Calabrian and Sicilian written language and pronunciation. Differences in spelling of the same words exist across (and even within) these geographic and linguistic boundaries. Even the opening line differs from region to region: C'è la luna mezz'o mare, C'è 'na luna mezz'u mare, E la luna mezzo 'o mare and C'e la luna mezza mare are among the variations. Still another, different version was sung in the wedding scene of the first Godfather movie.
The correct lyrics for the hit version must be gotten directly from the Lou Monte record. This presents still another problem. Monte's regional pronunciation differs radically from the dialectical spelling. As he sings the words:
c is pronounced like g
t is pronounced like d
p is pronounced like b, sometimes almost like v
f is pronounced like v
s is pronounced like z
Here then, for the first time on the Web, are the correct words and phonetic pronunciation as actually sung by Lou Monte:
LAZY MARY (Luna Mezza Mare)
by Paolo Citorello, English lyrics by Lou Monte
C'è 'na luna mezz'u mare
CHEH-nah LOO-nah MEN-zoo MAH-reh
Mamma mia m'a maritare
MAH-mah MEE-ah mah mah-ree-DAH-ray
Figlia mia a cu te dare
FIH-lee-ah MEE-ah GOO-deh DAH-ray
Mamma mia pensace tu
MAH-mah MEE-ah ben-ZATCH-eh-doo
Se te piglio lu pesciaiole
zeh teh BILL-yoo-oh bee-shigh-YOH-lah
Isse vai isse vene
IH-soo VAH-eh IH-soo VEH-neh
Sempe lu pesce mane tene
ZEHM-peh loh BAY-sheh MAH-neh DAY-neh
Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia
zay ching-GAHP-pah-lah vahn-dah-ZEE-ah
Te pesculia figghiuzza mia
day beh-shoo-LEE-ah vee-GYOOTS-zah meeah
LÃ* lariulÃ* pesce fritt'e baccalÃ*
lah lah-REE-oo-lah BEH-sheh VREET-teh bah-kah-LAH
Uei cumpÃ* no calamare c'eggi'accattÃ*
way goom-BAH noh gah-lah-MAH-leh jeh-jah-kah-TAH
(Second stanza)
C'è 'na luna mezz'u mare
CHEH-neh LOO-neh MEN-zoo MAH-reh
Mamma mia m'a maritare
MAH-mah MEE-ah mah mah-ree-DAH-ray
Figlia mia a cu te dare
FIH-lee-ah MEE-ah GOO-dah-DAH-ray
Mamma mia pensace tu
MAH-mah MEE-ah ben-ZATCH-eh-doo
Se te piglio lu pulezia
zeh-teh BILL-yoo-oh boo-luht-ZEE-ah
Isse vai isse vene
IH-soo VAH-eh IH-soo VEH-neh
Semp'a scuppetta mane tene
ZEHM-peh shkoop-PEHT-tah MAH-neh DAY-neh
Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia
zee ching-GAHP-pah-lah vahn-dah-ZEE-ah
Te scuppettea figghiuzza mia
day shkoop-peh-TEE-ah vee-GYOOTS-zah meeah
LÃ* lariulÃ* pesce fritt'e baccalÃ*
lah lah-REE-oo-lah BEH-sheh VREET-teh bah-kah-LAH
Uei cumpÃ* 'na scuppetta c'eggi'accattÃ*
way goom-BAH nah shkoo-PEHT-tah jeh-jah-kah-TAH
(And now for you nice ladies and gentlemen out there who don’t understand the Eyetalian language, I’d like to do two choruses in British)
Lazy Mary you better get up
She answered back I am not able
Lazy Mary you better get up
We need the sheets for the table
Lazy Mary you smoke in bed
There's only one man you should marry
My advice to you would be
Is to pay attention to me
You’d better marry a fireman
He'll come and go, go and come
Sempe la pompa mane tene
ZEHM-beh lah BUHM-bah MAH-neh DAY-neh
Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia
zay ching-GAH-pah-lah vahn-dah-ZEE-ah
Te pomperia figghiuzza mia
deh bohm-BEH-ree-ah vee-GYOOTS-zah meeah
LÃ* lariulÃ* pesce fritt'e baccalÃ*
lah lah-REE-oo-lah BEH-sheh VREET-teh bah-kah-LAH
Uei cumpÃ* 'na pompina c'eggi'accattÃ*
way goom-BAH nah bohm-BEE-nah jeh-jah-kah-TAH
0 cummÃ* ca m' voglio maritÃ*
oh goom-MAH gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Trovame 'na uagliotta
troh-VAH-meh nah while-YOHT-tah
Ca me voglio maritÃ*
gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Trovame 'na uagliotta
troh-VAH-meh nah while-YOHT-tah
Ca me voglio maritÃ*
gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Trovame 'na uagliotta
troh-VAH-meh nah while-YOHT-tah
Ca me voglio maritÃ*
gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Hey!
THE STORY: This is a very risque song. It’s about a girl telling her mother that the moon over the sea (luna mezz'u mare) makes her want to get married. Her mother asks, who can we give you to? (a cu te dare) The daughter replies, "Mother, what do you think?" (Mamma mia pensace tu). The mother then considers different occupations of men. In various versions of the original longer tune, they are numerous, including the Butcher, the Baker, the Shoemaker, the Farmer, the Carpenter and the Gardener. Lou Monte’s version features the Fisherman, the Policeman, and the Fireman. For each type she considers, the mother uses a variation on a theme–for example: If I take for you the fisherman (Se te piglio lu pesciaiole), he’ll go, he'll come (isse vai isse vene), he’ll always have the fish in his hand (sempe lu pesce mane tene). If he gets an idea in his head (Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia) he’ll "fish" you (te pesculia). She repeats this theme for each choice, changing the double entendre of what each has in his hand and what he'll do with it. Although he sings of the policeman with his rifle in his hand (a scuppetta mane tene) Monte left out the more naughty images of the butcher with the sausage in his hand and the gardener with the cucumber in his.
Most of his "British" version has nothing to do with the Italian song. There’s no mention in the original of a "Lazy Mary", needing the sheets for the table, etc. But Monte does tie the two together with the ending of the English lyrics segueing back to "Eyetalian": "you’d better marry a fireman, he’ll come and go, go and come...sempe la pompa mane tene (always with the pump in his hand)." The song then ends with the exasperated daughter asking her cummÃ*--her godmother or best girl friend--to find her someone worth marrying (trovame 'na uagliotta ca me voglio maritÃ*).
THE ARTIST: Lou Monte lived from 1917 to 1989, and he was an entertainer for almost all of those years. Lou was raised in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, and even as a child he sang and played guitar for his family and neighbors. Soon he was working in local clubs, and went on to have his own radio and television shows broadcast from Newark. His recording career began in 1953 for RCA Records with "I Know How You Feel". But it was the flip-side, an Italian style rendition of "(At the) Darktown Strutters' Ball"--a favorite from his nightclub act--that became the hit. His early records were made with Hugo Winterhalter's orchestra until Lou hooked up with Joe Reisman in 1956. They began a successful collaboration, with Reisman's orchestra backing Lou on many of his later hits. It was also in 1956 that Lou recorded, at the request of RCA, a novelty song about the label's newest singing sensation--Elvis Presley. "Elvis for President" was one of the few Lou Monte records with no Italian lyrics, but Lou made up for that with "Lazy Mary", "The Sheik of Araby (The Sheik of Napoli)" and many others. After Lou left RCA, he recorded the holiday classic "Dominick the Donkey (The Italian Christmas Donkey)" for Roulette records, and then joined Frank Sinatra's new label, Reprise. It was there that he achieved his greatest fame, and a Top 10 hit, with "Pepino the Italian Mouse". Lou is fondly remembered as a great entertainer who brought smiles to the faces of his fans worldwide.
http://www.bobshannon.com/images/bth-newlogo-story.gif
TRANSLATED HITS
...a special feature on the lyrics of a tune from the King of Italian-American hit records. This article did not originally appear in the book.
http://www.bobshannon.com/images/loumonte1.jpg
Lazy Mary--Lou Monte
Joe Reisman & His Orchestra
Year: 1958
Position: Top 12
Label: RCA
THE LYRICS: This song is among the most problematic to obtain the correct lyrics for. Although the words are readily available from many websites, they are not correct.
Here's how they appear on most lyrics sites:
"Lazy Mary you better get up"
She answered back, "I am not able"
"Lazy Mary you better get up
We need the sheets for the table"
"Lazy Mary you smoke in bed
There's only one man you should marry
My advice to you would be
Is to pay attention to me"
"You better marry a fireman he'll come and go,
Go and come sempr's la pompa a mano tiene
C'e na luna mezza'o mare
Mammamiam'ho maritari
Figlia mia a cu t'ho dare?
Mama mia penscitu
Se ti piglia lu pisciaolo
Tssu vai, issu viene
Sempre lu peace a muno tiene
Se c'in gappa la fantasia ti pomperia figgiuzza mia
La lario la pisci fritt'e baccala
Oeh cumpa, na pompina ci haggia catta
Cenata o cumma ca mi voglio marita
Dammi na vagliotta ca mi voglio marita HEY!
The English portion is correct, but the actual record does not begin with it. The "Italian" portion is partly correct, but very incomplete, and contains words not even on the record. There are also "typos"; for example, at the beginning of the sixth line of the "Italian" section, Tssu should be Issu. Most of the song is omitted as it jumps from the opening to an incorrect sequence of the ending.
It appears that this version has been copied from website to website, and is the accepted source on the Internet. Unfortunately, it is wrong.
The problem begins with the fact that this folk song is not sung in Standard Italian. It is beyond the scope of this website to delve into the finer points of dialectical variations between Neapolitan, Calabrian and Sicilian written language and pronunciation. Differences in spelling of the same words exist across (and even within) these geographic and linguistic boundaries. Even the opening line differs from region to region: C'è la luna mezz'o mare, C'è 'na luna mezz'u mare, E la luna mezzo 'o mare and C'e la luna mezza mare are among the variations. Still another, different version was sung in the wedding scene of the first Godfather movie.
The correct lyrics for the hit version must be gotten directly from the Lou Monte record. This presents still another problem. Monte's regional pronunciation differs radically from the dialectical spelling. As he sings the words:
c is pronounced like g
t is pronounced like d
p is pronounced like b, sometimes almost like v
f is pronounced like v
s is pronounced like z
Here then, for the first time on the Web, are the correct words and phonetic pronunciation as actually sung by Lou Monte:
LAZY MARY (Luna Mezza Mare)
by Paolo Citorello, English lyrics by Lou Monte
C'è 'na luna mezz'u mare
CHEH-nah LOO-nah MEN-zoo MAH-reh
Mamma mia m'a maritare
MAH-mah MEE-ah mah mah-ree-DAH-ray
Figlia mia a cu te dare
FIH-lee-ah MEE-ah GOO-deh DAH-ray
Mamma mia pensace tu
MAH-mah MEE-ah ben-ZATCH-eh-doo
Se te piglio lu pesciaiole
zeh teh BILL-yoo-oh bee-shigh-YOH-lah
Isse vai isse vene
IH-soo VAH-eh IH-soo VEH-neh
Sempe lu pesce mane tene
ZEHM-peh loh BAY-sheh MAH-neh DAY-neh
Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia
zay ching-GAHP-pah-lah vahn-dah-ZEE-ah
Te pesculia figghiuzza mia
day beh-shoo-LEE-ah vee-GYOOTS-zah meeah
LÃ* lariulÃ* pesce fritt'e baccalÃ*
lah lah-REE-oo-lah BEH-sheh VREET-teh bah-kah-LAH
Uei cumpÃ* no calamare c'eggi'accattÃ*
way goom-BAH noh gah-lah-MAH-leh jeh-jah-kah-TAH
(Second stanza)
C'è 'na luna mezz'u mare
CHEH-neh LOO-neh MEN-zoo MAH-reh
Mamma mia m'a maritare
MAH-mah MEE-ah mah mah-ree-DAH-ray
Figlia mia a cu te dare
FIH-lee-ah MEE-ah GOO-dah-DAH-ray
Mamma mia pensace tu
MAH-mah MEE-ah ben-ZATCH-eh-doo
Se te piglio lu pulezia
zeh-teh BILL-yoo-oh boo-luht-ZEE-ah
Isse vai isse vene
IH-soo VAH-eh IH-soo VEH-neh
Semp'a scuppetta mane tene
ZEHM-peh shkoop-PEHT-tah MAH-neh DAY-neh
Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia
zee ching-GAHP-pah-lah vahn-dah-ZEE-ah
Te scuppettea figghiuzza mia
day shkoop-peh-TEE-ah vee-GYOOTS-zah meeah
LÃ* lariulÃ* pesce fritt'e baccalÃ*
lah lah-REE-oo-lah BEH-sheh VREET-teh bah-kah-LAH
Uei cumpÃ* 'na scuppetta c'eggi'accattÃ*
way goom-BAH nah shkoo-PEHT-tah jeh-jah-kah-TAH
(And now for you nice ladies and gentlemen out there who don’t understand the Eyetalian language, I’d like to do two choruses in British)
Lazy Mary you better get up
She answered back I am not able
Lazy Mary you better get up
We need the sheets for the table
Lazy Mary you smoke in bed
There's only one man you should marry
My advice to you would be
Is to pay attention to me
You’d better marry a fireman
He'll come and go, go and come
Sempe la pompa mane tene
ZEHM-beh lah BUHM-bah MAH-neh DAY-neh
Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia
zay ching-GAH-pah-lah vahn-dah-ZEE-ah
Te pomperia figghiuzza mia
deh bohm-BEH-ree-ah vee-GYOOTS-zah meeah
LÃ* lariulÃ* pesce fritt'e baccalÃ*
lah lah-REE-oo-lah BEH-sheh VREET-teh bah-kah-LAH
Uei cumpÃ* 'na pompina c'eggi'accattÃ*
way goom-BAH nah bohm-BEE-nah jeh-jah-kah-TAH
0 cummÃ* ca m' voglio maritÃ*
oh goom-MAH gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Trovame 'na uagliotta
troh-VAH-meh nah while-YOHT-tah
Ca me voglio maritÃ*
gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Trovame 'na uagliotta
troh-VAH-meh nah while-YOHT-tah
Ca me voglio maritÃ*
gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Trovame 'na uagliotta
troh-VAH-meh nah while-YOHT-tah
Ca me voglio maritÃ*
gah meh VOHL-yee-oh mah-ree-DAH
Hey!
THE STORY: This is a very risque song. It’s about a girl telling her mother that the moon over the sea (luna mezz'u mare) makes her want to get married. Her mother asks, who can we give you to? (a cu te dare) The daughter replies, "Mother, what do you think?" (Mamma mia pensace tu). The mother then considers different occupations of men. In various versions of the original longer tune, they are numerous, including the Butcher, the Baker, the Shoemaker, the Farmer, the Carpenter and the Gardener. Lou Monte’s version features the Fisherman, the Policeman, and the Fireman. For each type she considers, the mother uses a variation on a theme–for example: If I take for you the fisherman (Se te piglio lu pesciaiole), he’ll go, he'll come (isse vai isse vene), he’ll always have the fish in his hand (sempe lu pesce mane tene). If he gets an idea in his head (Se ce 'ncappa la fantasia) he’ll "fish" you (te pesculia). She repeats this theme for each choice, changing the double entendre of what each has in his hand and what he'll do with it. Although he sings of the policeman with his rifle in his hand (a scuppetta mane tene) Monte left out the more naughty images of the butcher with the sausage in his hand and the gardener with the cucumber in his.
Most of his "British" version has nothing to do with the Italian song. There’s no mention in the original of a "Lazy Mary", needing the sheets for the table, etc. But Monte does tie the two together with the ending of the English lyrics segueing back to "Eyetalian": "you’d better marry a fireman, he’ll come and go, go and come...sempe la pompa mane tene (always with the pump in his hand)." The song then ends with the exasperated daughter asking her cummÃ*--her godmother or best girl friend--to find her someone worth marrying (trovame 'na uagliotta ca me voglio maritÃ*).
THE ARTIST: Lou Monte lived from 1917 to 1989, and he was an entertainer for almost all of those years. Lou was raised in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, and even as a child he sang and played guitar for his family and neighbors. Soon he was working in local clubs, and went on to have his own radio and television shows broadcast from Newark. His recording career began in 1953 for RCA Records with "I Know How You Feel". But it was the flip-side, an Italian style rendition of "(At the) Darktown Strutters' Ball"--a favorite from his nightclub act--that became the hit. His early records were made with Hugo Winterhalter's orchestra until Lou hooked up with Joe Reisman in 1956. They began a successful collaboration, with Reisman's orchestra backing Lou on many of his later hits. It was also in 1956 that Lou recorded, at the request of RCA, a novelty song about the label's newest singing sensation--Elvis Presley. "Elvis for President" was one of the few Lou Monte records with no Italian lyrics, but Lou made up for that with "Lazy Mary", "The Sheik of Araby (The Sheik of Napoli)" and many others. After Lou left RCA, he recorded the holiday classic "Dominick the Donkey (The Italian Christmas Donkey)" for Roulette records, and then joined Frank Sinatra's new label, Reprise. It was there that he achieved his greatest fame, and a Top 10 hit, with "Pepino the Italian Mouse". Lou is fondly remembered as a great entertainer who brought smiles to the faces of his fans worldwide.